London, Oct 06: Sitar maestro river Shankar and his daughter Norah Jones are cut up with veteran Bollywood actor-producer Dev Anand for trying to produce a film on their tortured relationship. The English-language movie, 'Song Of Life,' is being produced in Mumbai by Dev Anand who is to play Shankar, Dev, who turned 80 last week, is three years younger than the sitar superstar. Dev Anand has spent several weeks in New York trying to sign up a Hollywood name to play the 24-year-old Jones. He originally hoped to persuade Nicole Kidman or Salma Hayek, to portray the singer, but is now understood to be looking for a younger actress, the daily telegraph reported today.

The mastero's wife Sukanya said during a European tour with her husband and daughter Anoushka here, "Nobody knows the inside story about our family except for us, really. It's nobody's business and intrudes on our privacy. He does not have our permission to produce this film. For now we will just tell the press that this has nothing to do with our story." Shankar's daughter Jones also thinks the film is exploitative. "He has no idea of our story, and he's not going to represent it in a truthful way, I'm sure," she told the daily. "It's sad because it's personal stuff and nobody's business but ours." Dev Anand on his part clarified that his film is not exactly going to be based on Pandit Ravi Shankar and Norah Jones although it is "inspired" by them.


Bureau Report